Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

n. The action of bringing something to rest or making it quiescent; the action of coming to rest or to a quiescent state.

n. When a cell is in a term of no growth and no division.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English

n. The state or quality of being quiescent.

from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

n. The state or quality of being quiescent or inactive; rest; repose; inactivity; the state of a thing without motion or agitation: as, the quiescence of a volcano.

n. In philology, silence; the condition of not being heard in pronunciation: as, the quiescence of a letter.

n. In biology, quietude or inactivity; a state of animal life approaching torpidity, but in which the animal is capable of some motion, and may receive food: it is observed among insects during either hibernation or pupation, and in many other animals both higher and lower in the scale than these.

But as a greater torpor follows this exhaustion of sensorial power, as explained in the next paragraph, and a greater exertion succeeds this torpor, the constitution frequently sinks under these increasing librations between exertion and quiescence; till at length complete quiescence, that is, death, closes the scene.

Jan 09, 2009 | not rated yet | no comments yet A new study sheds light on a little understood biological process called quiescence, which enables blood-forming stem cells to exist in a dormant or inactive state in which they are not growing or dividing.

A new study sheds light on a little understood biological process called quiescence, which enables blood-forming stem cells to exist in a dormant or inactive state in which they are not growing or dividing.

This quiescence continues, till the sensorial power becomes again accumulated in the torpid organs; and then the usual diurnal stimuli excite the revivescent parts again into action; but as this kind of quiescence continues but a short time compared to the cold paroxysm of an ague, and less affects the circulatory system, a less superabundancy of exertion succeeds in the organs previously torpid, and a less excess of arterial activity.

This very suggestive phrase is more than what Freud might be suggesting, however: "quiescence" implies something still living, where "inertia" would have brought it to a dead stop; one is reminded of Keats's "quiet breathing" ( "A thing of beauty is a joy forever ..."